What, no Primary Pencil in that display? You know, the one Bill Cosby once decribed on vinyl as "big as a horse's leg?"

Come to think of it, maybe I should start carrying around a dozen of them suitably sharpened for self-defense. They should be stronger than those thin yellow ones. At 13/32" diameter, it's about the size of a .40 Smith & Wesson slug but a lot longer and reusable if you can pull it out of your target, and you don't need a permit to buy one! Muggers and terrorists beware!

It's amazing how long it took for someone to realize that there might be a better way to sharpen a pencil than with a pen knife, a device used to sharpen quill pens.

More than any other book, ThePencil distills what engineering is all about. Sadly, only engineers will read it. My wife can't fathom why anyone would even rest their gaze on the cover, much less get it from the public library, read it, then buy it!